World News - British security forces 'colluded in international terrorism'

British security forces colluded in acts of international terrorism in the 1970s, a Dáil committee said in a hard-hitting report today. “The spectre of collusion” was present in the attacks investigated by the probe into a series of bomb and gun attacks carried out on both sides of the border by loyalist paramilitaries. At a press conference in the grounds of the Dáil in Dublin, the committee concluded that security force members were involved in the attacks: “We now have enough information to be fully satisfied not only that it (collusion) occurred, but that it was widespread.” It added: “The sub-committee notes that the British cabinet was aware of the level to which the security forces had been infiltrated by terrorists and we believe that its inadequate response to this knowledge permitted the problem to continue and to grow.”... http://breakingnews.iol.ie

The U.S. government has agreed to pay $2 million to an Oregon lawyer who was wrongfully arrested as a terrorism suspect because of a bungled fingerprint match and has issued an apology for the "suffering" inflicted on the attorney and his family. Under the terms of the settlement announced today, Brandon Mayfield of Portland, Ore., will also be able to continue to pursue a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act antiterrorism law, which played a role in Mayfield's case. The monetary payment amounts to an embarrassing admission of wrongdoing by the FBI, which arrested and detained Mayfield as a material witness in May 2004 after FBI examiners wrongly linked him to a portion of a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators during the investigation of the Madrid commuter train bombings. Subsequent investigations have also found that the FBI compounded its error by failing to adhere to its own rules for handling evidence and by resisting the conclusions of ...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901179.html

President Hugo Chavez commanded a wide lead before Venezuela's election on Sunday, setting the stage for the self-styled revolutionary to intensify his anti-U.S., leftist crusade in Latin America. His rival Manuel Rosales, the governor of an oil-producing state in the west of the OPEC nation, trails by double-digits in most polls because he has made little headway eroding Chavez's overwhelming support among the majority poor. If the polls showing Chavez has close to 60 percent support prove right, he vows to use re-election with a strong mandate to scrap term limits and to rule for decades atop a single-party that he wants to create from the cacophony of groups he now heads. Rosales, 53, has united a traditionally fragmented opposition behind a disciplined, populist campaign focused on Chavez weaknesses — crime rates that make the capital the worst in the region and discontent with oil giveaways to Cuba. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2688900

Using money, weapons or its oil power, Saudi Arabia will intervene to prevent Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from massacring Iraqi Sunni Muslims once the United States begins pulling out of Iraq, a security adviser to the Saudi government said on Wednesday.Nawaf Obaid, writing in The Washington Post, said the Saudi leadership was preparing to revise its Iraq policy to deal with the aftermath of a possible U.S. pullout, and is considering options including flooding the oil market to crash prices and thus limit Iran's ability to finance Shi'ite militias in Iraq."To be sure, Saudi engagement in Iraq carries great risks -- it could spark a regional war. So be it: The consequences of inaction are far worse," Obaid said.The article said the opinions expressed were Obaid's own and not those of the Saudi government....http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N29311689.htm

It is something one half of the population has long suspected - and the other half always vocally denied. Women really do talk more than men. In fact, women talk almost three times as much as men, with the average woman chalking up 20,000 words in a day - 13,000 more than the average man. Women also speak more quickly, devote more brainpower to chit-chat - and actually get a buzz out of hearing their own voices, a new book suggests. The book - written by a female psychiatrist - says that inherent differences between the male and female brain explain why women are naturally more talkative than men. In The Female Mind, Dr Luan Brizendine says women devote more brain cells to talking than men. And, if that wasn't enough, the simple act of talking triggers a flood of brain chemicals which give women a rush similar to that felt by heroin addicts when they get a high...http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=419040&%5C1in_page_id=1879

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday at a business conference here that the war in Iraq "could be considered a civil war," the conference organizer said. Powell made the comment during a question-and-answer session after a keynote speech, according to David Hellaby, who organized the "Leaders in Dubai Business Forum." No cameras were allowed in to record the talk, but Hellaby was present and issued a press release quoting Powell. Powell could not be immediately reached for comment. Hellaby said Powell was leaving Dubai immediately after Wednesday's conference. Powell's comments come in sharp contrast to those of President Bush, who said Tuesday that Iraq is not in a civil war. Bush blamed al-Qaida extremists for the daily violence there. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2688083